A Coverblog Reborn:
I Could Take The Credit But It’s Thanks To You
Welcome to coverlaydown.com, our new home on the web. Glad you found us. Mind the boxes and the lack of links on the sidebar; we’re still unpacking a few things. Apologies about any broken links in the archives; as noted previously, my old hosting service goes kablooey on Monday, and from here on in, in order to better preserve the sanctity of this blog as a vehicle to promote artists rather than undermine their sales, mp3 links will only remain up for a few weeks before being stricken. If you’re used to dropping in via bookmark, don’t forget to bookmark our new address.
It is my intention to return to normalcy as soon as possible — after all, as many of you made it abundantly clear in the past few weeks, you appreciate what we do here at Cover Lay Down, and we aim to keep doing it. But before we return to our usual model of music- and musician-centered posting, allow me one last self-centered metablog. Because this move would not have been possible without the wonderful outpouring of community support which came my way over the last few weeks, and I would be a poor blogger indeed if I did not take this time to recognize that effort.
First and foremost, then: I owe a deep debt of gratitude to Robbie, host and stellar designer of femmefolk blog Womenfolk. Robbie did the lion’s share of moving this blog to its new wordpress host; he also covered the redesign, donating over two days of his own design expertise and techie time to make this place feel like home, and he was perfectly gracious about doing it all over again when I called him and whined a bit about how it looked different than I imagined.
To fully honor Robbie’s contribution, I’ll be running a coverfolk feature on one of our favorite female cover artists sometime next week. In the meantime, if you get a chance, pop on over and thank him in person by adding Womenfolk to your feedreader. While you’re there, I highly recommend putting in your order for the wonderful Womenfolk: Volume One compilation CD, which is fully sanctioned by the great female artists whose songs appear on that disk.
Thanks, too, to Dean of Snuhthing/Anything for helping me sift through the many possibilities for blog and file hosting, and for ultimately finding me a hosting solution that is right for me. Dean, who is also a fellow collaborator over at Star Maker Machine, has been a stellar conscience and guide throughout the last few months, and it is because of his research and recommendation that I am proud to announce that as of this weekend, this blog is hosted by Iron Mountain, a completely green, solar-powered hosting service out of California that is run by some great and hilarious guys who actually care about us, what we do here, and what we aspire to be.
Iron Mountain hosting isn’t cheap — you’ll notice I’ve moved the donate button to its own page above, and I hope folks will consider the occasional coin in the hat here and there as we move forward. But with these guys, you get what you pay for. And I’m really excited to have found a hosting solution which matches the family-friendly feel and ecological aims of the folk music community.
More generally, but no less significantly: thanks go out to all of you who stepped up to heed the call for patronage through comments, emails, and donations. Never let anyone tell you that the world of social media rests on a faulty optimism. The fact that we are here, now, is proof that even in a world teetering on the edge of recession, people really are willing to open their hearts and minds and wallets, and give time and good cheer and cold hard cash, to support that which they love and appreciate. Words cannot express how grateful I am for the second chance you have given me.
But perhaps song will speak louder than words.
Thanksgiving is coming, and I had been saving this short playlist for the usual holiday coverfolk post, but I’m feeling so thankful these past few weeks, it seems like the holiday’s come a bit early this year. So we’ll close today with a short but broadminded set of thankful coverfolk, from The Waybacks’ post-bluegrass rock and roll to Eilen Jewell’s southern-fried countryfolk to Erin McKeown’s upbeat retro-swing, from the baritone bluesfolk growl of previously-featured Chris Smither to a surprisingly delicate acoustic turn from Soundgarden founder Chris Cornell. Plus an instrumental cover of a song which never actually says the words “thank you”, but always struck me nonetheless as a fundamentally grateful tune, tinged with just the right amount of humility.
- Chris Smither: Thanks To You (orig. Jesse Winchester)
(from Small Revelations; more Chris Smither here) - Chris Cornell: Thank You (orig. Led Zeppelin)
(from the live bootleg Unplugged in Sweden; more Chris Cornell here) - The Waybacks w/ John Cowan: Thank You (ibid.)
(live from Merlefest 2008; more of The Waybacks here) - Erin McKeown: Thanks for the Boogie Ride (orig. Buck/Mitchell)
(from Sing You Sinners; more Erin here) - Eilen Jewell: Thanks a Lot (orig. Charlie Rich)
(from Letters from Sinners and Strangers; more Eilen here) - M. Ward: You Still Believe in Me (orig. The Beach Boys)
(from Transistor Radio; more M. here)
Of course, in the end, this blog is about the music we love, and for that to continue, it is as vital as ever to support the artists whose labor brings us together. If you like what you hear, as always, consider following the above links to artist homepages and stores for product purchase and tour tracking.
Cover Lay Down posts new coverfolk features on Sundays, Wednesdays, and the occasional Friday or holiday. And we owe it all to you.
Category: metablog | Tags: Chris Cornell, Chris Smither, Eilen Jewell, Erin McKeown, M. Ward, The Waybacks
November 16th, 2008 at 12:20 am
Hooray! Nice to have you back.
November 16th, 2008 at 1:11 am
All the best of luck in your new ‘home”. Where you lead, I will follow
November 16th, 2008 at 1:33 am
Wow - thanks for the kind words! I’m happy that you have just about everything taken care of. Now all that brainpower can go into writing- upward and onward!
November 16th, 2008 at 1:39 am
Hey, Boy ~ Wonderful news! - the Universe really is unfolding as it should. We are also grateful… for your passion for the music and the accompanying articulate text - thanks for all you do…
November 16th, 2008 at 1:58 am
I too, want to thank you for the kind words and support. It was truly a pleasure to help you migrate to your new online home. And like many others, I look forward to your future posts!
November 16th, 2008 at 5:06 am
It’s great news that you have decided to keep going with the excellent blog. It’s inspired me to keep going myself and to re-focus the aims of my own blogging. I have decided to wind down mixtape4melfi for an exclusively Irish music blog which I hope will be fully functioning in the new year. Hope you can drop by sometime….
http://www.2uibestow.blogspot.com
peter
November 16th, 2008 at 5:59 am
Hey, and thanks for a grat site. I have been inspired to start a coverblog, and have of course listed you there. If you like to link back, here is the adress:
http://covermode.blogspot.com/
Regards
Peter
November 16th, 2008 at 7:21 am
nice. glad that getting up and running again seemed like the right thing to do. we are the beneficiaries, so thank YOU.
November 16th, 2008 at 9:46 am
Oh, this makes my heart sing. So good to see you back!
November 16th, 2008 at 10:18 am
Glad to see you’ve hit on an elegant solution, Boyhowdy. Howdy to Dean, too!
I like the ‘donate’ button.
I will update my links.
November 16th, 2008 at 10:25 am
love what you’ve done with the place! looks great!
November 16th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
Wow, that was fast. Congratulations on making it happen. You bring us such insightful writing and help us discover and rediscover some wonderful music. So great to have you back.
November 16th, 2008 at 5:35 pm
Alright Boy Howdy!!!
Things look good in you new digs. I dare say it even looks better than before!
It’s been said that a person is known by the company they keep, and you’ve borne that out with the amazing cast and crew behind the scenes of the move. All’a y’all are great.
Off to update the link…
November 16th, 2008 at 9:20 pm
[...] Go here to see the original [...]
November 18th, 2008 at 5:56 am
Yay! I’m delighted to see you’re back. The new space looks great and the new songs sound even better. I especially love the Erin McKeown one — what a fun little ditty!
November 18th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
Congratulations! The site looks great. I might be asking you for some advice in a month or so, if I can work out getting a domain for Muruch. Also, thank you again for emailing me that deleted review. I really appreciate your support. Good luck with the new place.
November 18th, 2008 at 7:43 pm
Welcom back. I should warn you, though, that part of the reason I moved was a DCMA attack on a post that had Chris Cornell’s version of Billie Jean on it.
November 18th, 2008 at 7:53 pm
Fair enough, ekko; thanks for the warning. I should note that blogger never contacted me at all, despite several cycles of take-downs; I’d be interested to see if take-down notices in the new hosting situation come to me, so I can defend the use as legitimate, instead of being at the mercy of a large corporation that used to claim their motto was “don’t be evil”. We’ll see what happens, I guess.
November 26th, 2008 at 1:29 pm
[...] In Folk: The Band (Dar Williams, Joan Osborne, Karen Dalton, Denison Witmer and more!)A Coverblog Reborn: I Could Take The Credit But It’s Thanks To YouCover Lay Down Status Update: Rumblings from Behind the ScenesA Change Is Gonna ComeBeating a Dead [...]
June 4th, 2009 at 9:37 am
[...] Moving to our own domain last November meant deserting a year’s worth of old files — a move consistent with our desire to keep Cover Lay Down from becoming a permanent archive for commercially available tracks, since that would ultimately undermine the livelihood of the very artists we are trying to support. [...]